A whopping (and whooping) 142 people (including guests) showed up for
the Charleston reunion from October
30th through November 2nd,
2014. That’s a good gathering for a group whose squadron shut
down some 45 years ago. We were honored to have RADM Jim Summitt
among our group, as well as two former Commanding Officers of VP-2 in
attendance: Captain Bruce Campbell brought his daughter and son-in-law,
and Captain Bert Howard was joined by his wife Mary Anne, two grandsons
and a grand-daughter-in-law, and VP-2 veteran Nick Aguilar. It
was noted that some of our reunion regulars didn’t make it this year;
we hope to see many of them in 2016. Three of our longest (not
oldest) association members were on hand: Rick and Sue Dombrowski
(Member #25), Dan and Juanita Davy (Member #32) and Mike Moreno (Member
#28) all joined the Association on the same day in 1986. Our
newest members, (Bill and Myrna Schneider (#599) and David Brougham
(#600), were welcomed at the reunion.

Excellent rooms and facilities were provided by the
North Charleston Crowne Plaza hotel. Originally we had contracted
for 50 rooms, not knowing how many members would attend this reunion;
wound up using 75 rooms. Our Ready Room was spacious, was used
for breakfast each morning, and for casual gathering with friends all
day.

Thursday was check-in day, with a welcome
cocktail hour and full buffet dinner that evening. On Friday
morning, the ladies took over a separate meeting room and had their own
private 'Meet and Greet' session. This meeting served to
accommodate the wives who maybe hadn’t been to a reunion before, or who
met their husbands after their VP-2 service and didn’t know the other
wives. They had fun swapping stories, getting acquainted, and
sharing Halloween candies.

At the conclusion of the ladies’ meeting, they
rejoined the husbands for the Association business meeting where plans
were discussed for the 2016 reunion, and a slate of officers was
elected to serve on the Association Executive Board for the next four
years. We also received briefings about the state of the Treasury
from Doug Donohue, and the closing of the Ship’s Store by Vic
Gulliver. During the meeting, Floyd Palmer gave his outgoing
remarks after 14 years as our president, and Greg Kelley spoke briefly
on his thoughts for the future as our incoming president.

For the rest of Friday, most of the members
availed themselves of an interesting and informative privately guided
tour of historic Charleston with a tour of the Heyward-Washington
House, built in 1772, and a stop at the Citadel to witness the cadets’
afternoon dress parade. Many of the members remarked that the
Citadel visit was a highlight of the tour. On Saturday, a large
group spent the day touring the huge and stately Boone Hall
plantation. Plans to follow that with a visit to Fort Sumter by
boat had to be curtailed due to stormy weather in the harbor. On
Sunday, a hearty group visited the Patriot’s Point Maritime Museum,
which includes the carrier U.S.S. Yorktown with an array of aircraft on
display, followed by a tour of the laboratory/museum for the first
submersible vessel to sink a ship, the Confederate submarine H.L.
Hunley.

Sunday evening saw the closing banquet with
good food, abundant wine, and a disk jockey for our musical
entertainment. A beautiful plaque was presented to Floyd Palmer
showing the Association’s appreciation for his fourteen years as our
Association president and celebrating all that the VP-2 Association has
accomplished under Floyd’s time in office. A similar plaque was
presented to Vic Gulliver for his many years of work on the executive
board. In the many reunions we’ve attended, I don’t think I’ve
seen a more gregarious, fun-loving group on the dance floor as we saw
on Sunday night. Finally, Greg Kelley wished us all a safe trip
home from the reunion with the hope that we would see each other again
in 2016 in the Pacific Northwest.

We give many grateful thanks to the many
Association members and hotel staff members who pitched in and helped
with the running of this reunion. One or two reunion hosts can’t
do it all. We always need volunteers to help out in many
areas. Let’s do it all again in 2016.